When The West Wind Moves
by sodoto
Summary: Piper is kidnapped by a demon, and a betrayal is uncovered when a blood spell is required to get her back... A Chris revelation fic, with a side order of fluff.


**When The West Wind Moves**

AUTHOR: sodoto

SUMMARY: Piper is kidnapped by a demon, and a betrayal is uncovered when a blood spell is required to get her back... A Chris revelation fic, with a side order of fluff.

SPOILERS: All episodes up to and including "Midnight Rendezvous."

DISCLAIMER: Charmed belongs to, and is not limited to, Warner Bros.,  
Aaron Spelling and Spelling Productions. This is a fan  
fic, for the fans and by a fan and no money exchanged  
hands what-so-ever. I do not own the show or the  
characters and I make no claim to their ownership.

A/N: Assuming no one knows about Chris apart from Phoebe. You're going to review and say this is unlikely, but I don't care, that's the WHOLE POINT! It's all about relieving my soreness after the end of S6! Make way for the Chris!love mush!

_----_

"Get Phoebe!" Ducking down behind the old couch, Piper aimed a blast with her hand at the large hulking demon, the ends of her hair scorched from the fireballs careering around the attic. Wyatt's playpen was surrounded by a scorching blue force field as he fiercely protected himself and Paige, huddled as his aunt was next to the blue and red dual area.

Chris nodded worriedly at the barked command, and orbed out of there quickly. Letting his instincts guide him, Chris solidified directly in Phoebe's office, and grimaced at the scene. Gesturing wildly, he managed to eventually catch Phoebe's attention, and she grimaced, mouthing '_gimme a minute_!' at her neurotic nephew. Chris nodded and orbed out, orbing back in after the minute to see Phoebe smoothing down her skirt embarrassedly and trying to stop the furious blush on her face.

"Have you never heard of knocking?" Phoebe asked furiously. "Huh?"

"Piper and Paige need you, there's a demon attacking that needs the Power of Three," Chris said hurriedly.

Phoebe's entire demeanour changed. "Oh, right." She stepped quickly into Chris' arms, and they orbed away.

The attic seemed to solidify around them, and Phoebe quickly shook off the nausea that accompanied orbing to see Paige standing uselessly by the playpen, reassuring Wyatt while being entirely unable to reassure herself.

"What happened?" Chris demanded, stepping forward, seeing the blood across Paige's skirt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not hurt too bad," Paige said. "It's Piper I'm worried about." Her voice dropped, troubled. "The demon took her through a portal. I couldn't stop her, and I've tried scrying for her, but-" She shook her head uselessly.

Phoebe hurried over, grimacing at Paige's wound. "You need that healed, Paige." Phoebe looked at Chris. "We need Leo."

Chris sighed darkly. "Fine. Call him."

"Leo! LEO!" Phoebe put her hands on her hips and yelled at the ceiling. Purple orbs sparkled down with a crystalline majesty, solidifying into Leo's form.

"Blessed be," Leo intoned, before looking around at the dishevelled attic. "What happened?"

"What, not keeping an eye on Wyatt _every_ minute, now?" Chris asked, his voice edged with bitterness.

"There was an important tribunal," Leo said, dismissing Chris with his entire body language, turning away to face the two sisters and Wyatt. He quickly stalked over to Paige, putting his hands on her wound. "Wouldn't need to do this if your Whitelighter wasn't so hopelessly inadequate."

"He's not that bad," Phoebe quickly defended. "He came to get me because I was at work, but when we got back it was too late." Her face softened. "Piper was already gone."

"Gone?" Leo stared, suddenly frightened. "Gone as in-"

"That demon dragged it away," Paige informed them. "We didn't have time to identify it, though."

"Orc," Chris supplied helpfully, his hands stilled on the book of shadows. "They like to-" He grimaced. "Take witches, especially pregnant witches, to... To consume."

"Oh, god," Paige whispered, sinking to the ground. "She's going to be eaten! If she's not being eaten already!"

"No," Phoebe muttered distractedly. "Piper has to be fine, 'cause Chris is still here."

"Well, that's something at least-" Leo started, then stopped, staring dubiously at Phoebe and Chris. Phoebe blanched visibly while Chris shot a dark look at her. "Chris? Why would you disappear if Piper wasn't... fine?"

Phoebe edged a small look at Chris, fidgeting. "Piper has to be fine, because-"

"-she saves the life of my mom, some time in the near future," Chris interrupted, lying smoothly. "If Piper dies, she can't save her."

"Well, you know, that's not necessarily the case," Paige argued, looking a little upset. "'Cause you could have been destined to come back in time to save her yourself, or tell us how to save her. Unless Piper's the only one who _can_ save her, which is pretty bizarre..."

"Look, I didn't make up the rules," Chris said. "She's okay. Just trust me."

"Yeah, right!" Paige stood, hands akimbo, eyes blaring. "Like we _can_ trust you after all the dodgy things you've tried!"

Chris turned to her. "Paige, all I've ever done was-"

"-for Wyatt's sake." Paige finished irately. "Yeah, yeah, save the speech. There's absolutely no way that you could know Piper was truly okay, just admit you don't know everything, and we can get on with scrying for her, or-"

"Piper's my mother."

Paige stopped mid-tirade at Chris' quiet words. She stared at Chris openly, mildly aware that Leo was doing the same thing, caught somewhat off guard. "Piper's your-"

"No, no, that's not- that's not possible. It's another of your schemes, plans," Leo broke in quickly, tone brisk, eyes wild as he examined the possibility.

"Yeah, you believe that," Chris said, his voice and eyes suddenly hard. "Whatever. Phoebe, isn't there some kind of blood-to-blood spell we can do to find her?"

Phoebe frowned, her brow furrowed. "Possibly."

"Phoebe, you believe him?" Leo demanded. "This is ridiculous!"

"Yes, I believe him! I saw it, I saw him in the future, on the vision quest I went on. Chris is your son, Leo, whether you like it or not." Phoebe folded her arms.

"He doesn't," Chris informed her darkly, spinning on his heel. "I'm sure that spell is in the book somewhere."

"How long have you known?" Paige demanded of Phoebe, her eyes sparkling. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was gonna," Phoebe started, guiltily, moving to join Chris at the book as Leo struggled with the truth, looking at Chris disbelievingly. Chris was steadfastly ignoring Leo. Feeling stretched by the tension, Phoebe decided to focus on the main problem at hand. "You found it?"

"Yeah," Chris said softly, bristling. He gestured at the table, and Leo's eyes widened as the knife from the potions table whistled through the air into Chris' hand. Chris cut his finger on the blade, ignoring the gaping Elder and let it fall on the stand. "Blood to blood, I call to thee, blood to blood, return to me."

The air shimmered a little, and Chris frowned. "I'm not strong enough by myself," he said, looking pleadingly at Paige and Phoebe.

Paige stepped forward quickly, adding her blood with a muffled "_ow_" to Chris', and Phoebe reluctantly did the same, glancing at the bloodied blade a little nervously. "Blood to blood, I call to thee, blood to blood, return to me."

The air shimmered until a blood red gash slit through the air. A single figure tumbled out, lying in a heap on the floor, and the gash healed itself.

"Piper!" The cry of his wife's name wrenching from his throat in disbelief, Leo stumbled forwards, flinging his hands forwards, instinctively healing her. Piper lurched upwards, dust and grime covering her face as she put her hands on her stomach in worry.

"The- the baby?" Piper asked fearfully, looking at Leo with widened eyes.

Leo cast a small wary glance upwards at Chris before looking at Piper. "He's fine. How- how are you?"

Piper smiled weakly, abruptly pleased her unborn child was fine. "It didn't manage to drag me very far. There was an ominous cage looming up, and then I managed to eventually blow it up, but it was too late. I couldn't get out." She shook her head. "Then that spell grabbed me here, I suppose." Piper looked worried. "At least I hope it was your spell."

"It was our spell, honey," Phoebe said, beaming and running over to embrace her sister, helping her to her feet.

"It was your son's idea, though," Leo said, his voice soft and unsure as he looked at Chris, who was staring at the blood-to-blood spell as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole world.

Piper's face registered her confusion. "Huh?" She turned to look at Wyatt, beaming at her from the crib, and flung her gaze to meet Leo's. "How?"

"He asked Phoebe," Paige added, her voice also tentatively light. "If you want it verbatim, he asked: Isn't there some kind of blood-to-blood spell we can do to find her? And then he found it."

Piper blinked violently, her mouth opening and closing rapidly. "I was only away for ten minutes! How could I have missed Wyatt's first words?"

"You didn't. Not exactly," Phoebe said, holding her hands up as she tried to explain. She looked at Chris, who looked a little upset and worried, and looked back at Piper. "Um. It was-" Phoebe stopped, and looked back at Chris again. Piper confusedly followed her gaze. "Chris, she has to know eventually."

"I have to know what?" Piper shook her head furiously. "Will someone tell me what the hell is going on? I mean, I'm away for ten minutes and now you've all gone Stepford on me! I almost lost one baby for a moment there, and now my other one is obviously turning into some kind of baby genius, and-" She stopped, as if something had occurred to her. "Uh, the sonogram's kind of scheduled for tomorrow, isn't it?"

Paige frowned. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"'cause Leo just called the baby a he," Piper said slowly, the words dawning slowly in her conscious. She turned to her husband. "How could you know the gender when you didn't know Wyatt was going to male?"

"Because-" Leo halted, then turned deliberately to Chris. "I really think you should explain this, Chris."

Piper's eyebrows raised. "You knew I was having a second son? You've seen him, in the future?" She looked abruptly happy in the knowledge her second child would be okay.

Chris shuffled, an awkward blush on his cheeks. "Uh-" Floundering, he looked down before looking up. "Yes, I knew you were having a second son. He came out healthy in my future."

"Wow," Piper breathed, stunned. She stepped forward, happy, one hand alighting on Chris' elbow. "Don't suppose you could tell me any more about him now you've accidentally let this slip, huh?"

Clearly uncomfortable, Chris absently looked towards Leo for support, and the small smile twitching on his father's face gave him a sudden strength, a surge of hope that someday everything might be okay between them. "He doesn't get on too well with his father," Chris said lightly, feeling rather than seeing Leo bristle slightly. "Abandonment issues, really. He idolized his older brother up to the point Wyatt turned evil. He took after you, he likes cooking, geek at high school."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Hey. I resemble that geek at high school bit. He's okay, though? Ten fingers..."

"...ten toes, yeah." Chris smiled ruefully. "Gets into trouble that's never his fault, likes music, got into painting from tuition from his Aunt Paige, learned Jiu Jitsu from his Aunt Phoebe... Anything else?"

"A name would be brilliant," Piper said, almost joking. "It took us so long to name Wyatt, it wasn't funny."

"His name-" Chris exhaled hard. "Christopher. After his father's father. But he-" He looked away slightly, and looked doubtfully back. "He prefers Chris."

"Well, he would, 'cause Christopher is su-" Piper faltered, and then gasped as the truth hit her. Her fingers instinctively clenched on his elbow so he couldn't run away. Piper grip faltered a little in her surprise, but she held on. "And his-" Her tentative voice was frail in shock. "His middle name was Perry."

Chris nodded, hard, unable to look away now. Piper gasped a little, which turned out as a cross between half a laugh and half a scream.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Piper stared up at Chris in wonder, tears starting to cloud her vision, feeling giddy with a mix of betrayal, nausea, pain, wonder, confusion and love.

Chris shrugged back uselessly. "I didn't know how." He smiled, fiercely cynical. "Besides, how could you really trust one son when it was the other one - the better one - that turned evil and terrorized the world?"

Piper reeled at his words, feeling light and dizzy. She moved her hand to take his own, her own fingers causing her stomach to sink slightly. His hand was callused with the faint remains of old burns healed by a Whitelighter's touch too often, bruised and with thick skin of a life of hard graft. "We're going to change all that, honey," Piper promised, feeling desperate to honour the unspoken promise, the term of endearment sliding out easily. "Because of you."

"Careful, you could give a guy a complex," Chris said, a soft smile playing on his face, his voice low, resorting to sarcasm to avoid dealing with the complicated feelings bubbling in all of them.

"Yeah, Piper," Paige called out, teasingly. "He's already neurotic enough."

"Neurotic, shmeurotic, if you had a more reliable contact system for demon attacks then incidents like this won't happen," Chris said, resorting to one of his favourite security spiels. "Just because you have a bit more punch to your power than most other witches, you should never get lax about technique."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You're admitting to having lied to us for the last year, have confused and shocked the hell out of us, and you're now giving us a lecture?" Paige rolled her eyes.

Chris grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. But it's important. Those orcs were low-level demons, they shouldn't have been able to get in and out with a Charmed One so easily. And Phoebe, making out with your boss in the middle of the day when you should have been a bit more available-"

Phoebe glowered as she bent down to pick up Wyatt, cradling the young child protectively. "You made me keep your secret for two whole weeks and now you're being sarky at me? Me who can _not_ keep secrets to save her life?"

Piper turned. "You _knew_? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Apparently she was gonna," Paige explained, her voice mimicking Phoebe's languid accent.

"I was!" Phoebe defended. "Besides, it shouldn't have been up to me."

"Hello, neurotic," Chris said in way of defence. "I can't help what my parents made me."

"Ah, but now we have the perfect opportunity to make you a sweet, truth-telling, non-sarcastic, honest, good little boy," Piper said.

"Insinuating that I'm anything but," Chris said, his voice light before he sighed heavily, and walked over to look out the window. "But- Look, it might be true genetically that I'm your son, but I'm only what could have happened. I don't expect you to think of me- as your son. Because my life turned out differently than the one Wyatt's going to experience this time around. And a damn good thing it is too. My world is a world that no one should have had to experience. So-"

"So you should just shut the hell up and give me a hug," Piper demanded. Chris whirled on his heel. Piper was right there behind him, and hovering behind her was Leo, acceptance and wonder on both of their faces. Chris blinked as Piper pulled him into a hug. Uncomfortable at first, he leant into the embrace warmly, and when he pulled away they both were fighting tears.

Leo's voice was husky when he spoke. "Abandonment issues?"

Chris' mouth twisted wryly for a second. "In my time, you were the only Elder left, Leo. Pretty much the only Whitelighter. Stands to reason you weren't around much. I mean, you were around some, for Wyatt, for Piper, but- The world needed you. I came out okay without you."

The words hit Leo hard. He swallowed hard. "You said that I was the only Elder in your timeline," Leo said softly, his face betraying how difficult he was finding it to form the words. "That's not so now."

Chris nodded, agreeing.

"They don't need me now, do they? Can't they make someone else an Elder?" Leo's voice held open desperation. "I wasn't there for Wyatt, and he turned evil. Maybe if I- if I refuse their offer, he-"

"Leo, you can't do that." Piper spoke, her voice still heavy with pain and anguish over their separation, but love was evident in her voice too. "You-"

"Need to protect the future," Leo said. "I can turn it down with a valid excuse. I think protecting my sons is a damn good reason, especially if one of them goes on an Evil Overlord bender. Even if one is so courageous, loves his family enough to come back to the past risking his life to save the family."

Chris smiled, almost reluctantly, at Leo's hesitant words of hope.

"Can you do that? Turn it down, I mean," Paige asked, moving to stand near them.

"It's possible. I mean, it's never been done before, it's breaking a thousand rules-" Leo said softly.

"Since when has that stopped you?" Phoebe remarked, joining them.

"Besides," Leo said, looking at Chris, then at Piper. "Becoming an Elder was a reward, for what I did. But this-" He looked at Piper this time, love on his face, shining outwards like a beacon. "This is more than a reward than any man could hope for."

"So I'm a reward?" Piper asked, her voice nearly a purr now.

"Ya sure you betcha," Leo quipped, lightness in his voice, but seriousness on his face. "I never stopped-" he added gently, stopping in mid-sentence as Piper put two fingers lightly on his lips.

"Me neither," Piper voiced softly, stepping forwards. Leo slid his arms about her hips, Piper's arms were around his neck and they kissed, a soft kiss of knowledge and surety and understanding and wonder, their lips barely moving against one another.

"Euuggggghhhhh." Chris turned away, blanching. "Um, it was weird enough that Aunt Phoebe gave me the birds and bees talk. I do not need to see my own parents acting it out."

"I'm with you on that one," Paige agreed, turning away too.

"Aww, but it's so cute," Phoebe sighed, as Wyatt giggled in her ear. Wyatt's voice made Piper break away, a crimson blush decorating her cheeks, and she turned in Leo's arms to look up at him.

"I know you wanted to become an Elder," Piper whispered. "Show them that they were wrong."

Leo smiled sadly back. "I did. But I think... I think I want this more. Besides-" He smirked, pressing his forehead to hers. "We have another son to make make polite. I really don't want to miss that."

Chris flushed brilliantly while Piper hid her face in Paige's shoulder, who just laughed, amused.

"You go up there, sort it out," Piper said softly. "Take as much time as you need."

"Just call if you need my help," Chris said, looking at Leo with a pained look on his face.

"Better to have their judgement potentially changed than the world definitely destroyed in the future, right?" Leo said, and Chris nodded slowly, heavily.

"That. And the fact that- well, despite things-" Chris looked to the ground and looked up again. "You're still my dad. Whatever happens."

Leo nodded, smiled sadly again, and disappeared in a swirl of displaced energy.

"He's back! Leo's back!"

Piper looked up from the crib, to see Phoebe grinning at her excitedly. Flustered, she bent down and picked up Wyatt, following her younger sister to the sitting room. There Leo stood, grinning. Leo stepped forward when Piper entered the room, putting one arm around her waist and swinging her and Wyatt in a small dance before he released them.

"I'm your Whitelighter again," Leo said, nodding happily. "They all broke a zillion rules each to do it, but... there it is."

"Congratulations!" Phoebe enthused, moving forwards and kissing Leo on the cheek.

"Where's Paige? We need to let her know," Piper said, snuggling into Leo's side gratefully.

"She was working. Chris has gone to get her, I had a premonition of you coming back," Phoebe said, grinning as the pair orbed in just as soon as she'd finished speaking.

"What's the verdict?" Chris' face was ashen, and he and Paige were clutching each other's hands so tightly Paige's hands were even more white than usual.

"Hello to you too," Leo quipped, squinting at Chris.

Chris sighed. "Hello. How are you? What's the weather like up there? Sunny? Anything new? Gosh, is that a new haircut? What's the verdict?"

Leo snorted. "Hi. I'm fine. The weather's quite nice up there. Very sunny. A few new things going on, I guess. No, it's not a new haircut, it was windy on the way down. Oh, and I'm not an Elder, I'm the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter again."

Paige cheered, high-fived an unwilling Chris and leapt over to hug Piper and Leo. "That's fantastic news!" she enthused.

"But what about Chris?" Phoebe asked, looking over to the suddenly downcast part-Whitelighter. Chris pulled a face and scratched above his ear, remaining silent.

"Wellll." Leo drew out the syllable. "We were debating and had decided previously to send Chris back to the future."

Chris' head whipped up and all colour drained out of his face. "But my future has gone now. That would-"

"-cause you to cease to exist, I know," Leo admitted heavily. "Believe me, if I'd known what I know now, I would have fought my damnedest to prevent that."

"Oh, crap," Chris breathed, sinking his head into one hand. He looked up again, a wry smile playing on his face. "At least it won't hurt," he added, his voice cracking slightly as he looked away.

"However," Leo said, smiling at Chris as the young man looked up at him, hardly daring to hope. "They still have a position open. As an Elder."

Stunned, Chris just stared.

"They can't send you back to the future," Leo explained. "Because that's not the way they do things. Good beings don't destroy innocent lives. But they say that you can't stay the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter. They think that having two Chris' around could be awkward. So- They decided... It was you who was the catalyst for me going up there in the first place, and saving some of the Elders. You who saved Paige. So- when you die, they would like you to become a full Whitelighter, and be elevated to being an Elder."

Chris choked. "But- but- but- it was- I mean. It was you who did all the work, Leo. You who gave up everything to save the future. I don't- I couldn't-" His voice and face held wonder. "This happens when I die?"

Leo laughed at his expression. "They want you to hang around for a while, as long as you want. Apparently, Wyatt and your... younger self... are fated to go to the magic school. There'll be long periods where young Chris won't be around. And there are some young witches in the world who need a Whitelighter."

Chris spluttered. "So... I can..."

"You're staying, mister." Piper said forcefully. "Maybe it'll be a bit weird, but the timeline won't be the same as yours. You'll be a completely different you. Besides, there's still some demons you know about that we need to deal with."

"Need to stop my timeline happening," Chris said softly, still in disbelief. He looked at Leo. "You need to not let your sons hate you, Leo. Because if you're not there, they will."

Leo nodded heavily. "Maybe you and I can get to know each other now. While we have time."

"Speaking of time," Phoebe said. "You two need to go upstairs and reconcile."

"That's a good idea," Piper said, blushing at Leo's sudden appraisal of her, and handed Wyatt over to Chris.

"You look after your brother," Piper commanded, looking softly at him.

Leo grabbed her around the waist, and they orbed away, presumably upstairs.

Paige, Phoebe and Chris shared a wince.

"You, um, wanna go take Wyatt out to the park?" Chris said, looking upstairs with a fairly sick expression.

"Great idea," Paige enthused, running for the baby stroller.

"I'll leave a note for, um, the happy couple," Phoebe breathed, running for paper and a pen. They quickly bundled Wyatt into the stroller, and left the house. Chris hovered on the doorstep, the door still open. Sunlight shone on his face as he looked into the manor he knew so well and had been given permission to know even better. He looked at his aunts, young and happy on the path, looking at him with loving expressions he never thought he'd see again.

Chris hopped down to join them, twisting his hand, letting his power close to the door, as he walked down the path and through the gate with his brother and aunts. His heart soared as the future shone before them, bright and warm with hope. San Francisco shone gold in the sunlight and the west breeze, as light as a caress, started to slowly work upon Chris, replacing his memories of a destroyed city with this beautiful spring. He looked upon Wyatt's innocent face, then at Phoebe and Paige, and felt - rather than knew - that this time around, everything was going to be different.


End file.
